The Global Trade Helpdesk (GTH) has made its databases and other trade-relevant information easier to access by providing a single point of entry to users and is now seeking cooperation of other countries to make it more real time.
Global Trade Helpdesk (GTH) is implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), a multilateral agency that has a joint mandate of World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The ITC has been around since 1964 and its GTH has been a single point source of trade related information – market opportunities, statistics, price information and regulation. It compiles information from 200 economies, agencies like World Bank, World Trade Organisation and United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 14 different global databases and 11 partner providers.
The information available on that platform is quite technical and the Jaipur Call for Action agreed at the G-20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting in August called for making it more user friendly for small and medium businesses.
“So we created a freely accessible platform that centralises information through a single digital entry point. The best is to come. Emerging technologies are changing the way we interact with data and complex information into clear and actionable fragments,” Director-International Trade Centre Mondher Mimouni said.
“Together we can revolutionise how quickly and easily the MSMEs access the information,” he said at a seminar organised by ministries of finance, commerce and industry and labour.
The information through the global trade helpdesk can help level the playing field for small businesses. “Without information or deficiency of information we are excluding many small and developing countries. They keep exporting to traditional markets without getting an opportunity to diversify their economy and move up the value chain,” Mimouni said.
Help is needed from all the countries to enhance the functionalities of the helpdesk by getting data from them in a more user-friendly format for greater transparency and upgrading the tools, he added.
“In some other instances we are moving to real time information. We are doing this with some countries. Our dream is to expand it to all countries. Technology is there, we need to move with partners.”
At the domestic level, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has also started looking at the possibility of having a meta information portal that brings together information from diverse sources.